Fantasyland From the Tuna Boat, 1957

A pearly gray layer of clouds keeps the sunshine off of Fantasyland, but it still looks cheerful. Crowds were light on this (winter?) day. While I generally think of Disneyland as a moneymaking machine, it is possible that it lost money on slow days like these. 

I wanted to zoom in on the Mickey Mouse Club Theater, where we can see the 3-D Jamboree poster on display. Next door you can get a cup of ice-cold Welch's grape juice. Beyond that... no line for Snow White's Scary Adventures! 

Why take just one photo from the back of the Pirate Ship when you can take two?

Vertigo and the 1939 World's Fair

Today I wanted to share this great vintage press photo from the 1939 New York World's Fair. One of the Fair's most iconic attractions was the Amusement Zone's "Parachute Jump". At 262 feet high, some called it the "Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn". You'd go uuuuup, and then drop down. Unless something went wrong, like it did for this unfortunate couple. Their parachute got stuck 100 feet in the air. This photo is pretty remarkable, with the crowds of lookyloos below; that net was presumably installed by the fire department (or whoever) after they were trapped.

They look pretty calm and collected. Here's where my brain goes: thank goodness they didn't need to use the bathroom. (Sorry).

Here's the text affixed to the back of the photo. It took five hours to get them down, holy moly!

This makes me think of WindSeeker at Knott's Berry Farm, which had a similar mishap (two mishaps, actually) last September. Here's a view of it as taken from the Sky Cabin... that thing is tall! Apparently the ride stopped, leaving riders stranded for four hours. Cedar Fair closed all of its WindSeeker rides around the country, and the one at Knott's only just reopened on February 1st. 

Two From October 1972

Oh man, more stuff from Snoozeville today. I'm starting to feel guilty. Or maybe I'm just craving some pancakes.

We're back at "It's a Small World" yet again (sorry). A large group of young men in black jackets and ties has just disembarked from the Happiest Cruise That Ever Sailed Around The World. Could they be visitors from a foreign land? Welcome, visitors! Try a churro. The mechanical clock is erupting.

The Rivers of America are particularly glassy and smooth today, reflecting the Mark Twain like an antique mirror. The empty canoes remind me of gondolas in Venice for some reason.

On The Skyway, August 1963

Here's a slide that makes me happy... bright and clear and sunshiny, above Fantasyland in our Skyway bucket. I freakin' love love love those 60's metallic colors that were used on the buckets back in the day. Reminds me of the aluminum tumblers that were in my grandma's cupboard. 

Looking back from whence we came (oh man, finally an excuse to use the word "whence"!), we can see part of the Alice ride below, with the striped tent and umbrella filled dining area, the Pirate Ship, and little Cinderella Castle (part of Storybook Land), and a glimpse beyond the berm.

Dance Circle, 1959

You can't talk about the old frontier without acknowledging that there were people in North America before European settler's came along. Well, you can, but that would be dumb. The Indian Village gave Disneyland visitors a chance to experience just a little bit of Indian culture. To my eyes, it all looked remarkably respectful, though I know that there are those who feel differently.

I love the anachronistic, snow-capped Matterhorn in the background! The dancer is about to soar into the sky and do loop-de-loops.

San Francisco, March 14, 1943

Let's set the Wayback Machine to March 14th, 1943! San Francisco, California, to be exact.

Here's a terrific color photo looking up Market Street (near the corner of Mason, for those of you programming your Wayback Machines). I just love this vintage scene of city hustle and bustle. Streetcars and Cable Cars share the street with plenty of beautiful old automobiles. The yellow cab is just the perfect accent! The Esquire Theater is showing a Joe E. Brown flick along with a Three Stooges comedy. Down at the end of the street you can see the famous tower of the Ferry Building at the Embarcadero. 

Here's a Google Maps street view grab of what the area looks like today. Different for sure, but there are still some familiar buildings from the first photo.

Our photographer pivoted to his (or her) left and caught the "Pepsi Cola Center for Servicemen", with plenty of sailors milling around out front. I've seen pictures of this in black and white, so it is fun to see it in color, with those striking red columns. It has a "World's Fair" style to it! Colorful flags of many nations festoon the building's upper floors. 

This photo is from Google's street view(it has a credit to Michele Aiello), this was about as close as I could get to matching the photo above. Again, not so terribly different, much to my surprise.

Arriving, August 13, 1960

I really love this first photo, full of color and energy and capturing some of the excitement that was felt when first arriving at Disneyland. These folks have already purchased their ticket books and are heading toward the turnstiles; looks like they picked a perfect day to go! Here are some fun facts, courtesy of Jason's Disneyland Almanac: August 13 was a Saturday; the park was open from 9 AM until 1 AM; this was a "Date Nite" day (special two-admission ticket books were sold that admitted couples in the evening); attendance was 35,622; temperatures... a high of 83º, a low of 61º.

Just East of the entrance you would have seen this lovely expanse of flowers; you were still basically in the parking lot, but Walt's desire to make Disneyland a special place is already evident.

Queen's Park, Long Beach California

Today's post is a tribute to a SoCal amusement park that I have heard almost nothing about, which is pretty unusual; we love our amusement parks! 

So, here is one postcard for Queen's Park in Long Beach. Since the early 1900's, the Long Beach Municipal Pier was home to a waterfront boardwalk and park known as "The Pike". As the years passed and competition for people's amusement dollars increased, The Pike was given a facelift and renamed "Nu-Pike" in 1954. One of Bud Hurlbut's famous miniature trains was added! In 1971, the named was changed to Queen's Park to coincide with the arrival of the RMS Queen Mary.

Considering that I lived in nearby Huntington Beach and my Navy dad worked in Long Beach, I am astounded that my family never went to Queen's Park. It looks like it would have been a lot of fun!

I was even more amazed to learn that Queen's Park lasted until 1980. Apparently it was featured in old episodes of Emergency!, S.W.A.T, and The Six Million Dollar Man... it would be fun to see those scenes!

At a recent paper show, I found this strip of tickets (on Globe paper, hooray!) from QP's first year. This would have kept you busy for a while! Presumably a guest handed this to the ticket taker who was armed with a special paper punch.

Goodbye, Queen's Park!

Scenes From Nature's Wonderland, August 1960

Why bother visiting real nature, it is full of bugs. You know I'm right! I'd rather go to Disneyland's "Nature's Wonderland", which was gluten free and bug free. 

I've got to hand it to those Imagineers... that bear in the water looks pretty realistic. He's hoping to grab a silvery trout from the water. Then he will grill it with some lemon & parsley butter and serve it with garlic mashed potatoes and a crisp Chenin Blanc.

Those pronghorn antelope are looking a little dopey. That convenient "watering hole" is actually full of naturally occurring moonshine, formed miles underground. Bobcat's love pickled antelope!

This geyser was called "Old Unfaithful", named after Sir Albert Oldunfaithful. 

More From Calico, April 1966

Here are the last five images from a small lot of slides featuring Calico!

Those reddish mountains are so barren and bleak, and yet they are sort of beautiful too. And at one time they were full of silver! In spite of the brilliant sunshiny day, Calico is not exactly teeming with visitors.

I hope you like rocks. And crooked little wooden buildings! Because that's what you'll find here. If you don't mind the drive, it's actually a fun place to check out.

Bottle houses are awesome. This one looks cute on the outside, but once you are inside, the sunlight is filtered through various bottles of green, amber, brown, and clear, for a surprisingly beautiful effect... almost as if you are under water. 

There's the most important building in Calico. No, not the schoolhouse, the privy. I guess when you go to a little schoolhouse you can only get a little schoolin'. 

And finally, one last overview of the little ghost town, with the Calico and Odessa Railroad just leaving the depot. I wanted to add this strange bit of news from Wikipedia: In 2012 Calico became the first ghost town in America to be re-opened for residential purposes. 100m from the ghost town site, six luxury villas were built with a trading value of $4.5 million. WEIRD!

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Calico!